Sound familiar?

Artificial waves got an early plug in the 1987 movie "North Shore." The opening scene shows Rick Kane winning a surf contest on a man-made wave in Arizona. He dreams of the North Shore, and soon packs his bags to move to Hawaii and compete in a real surf contest, where he went up against a cocky Lance Burkhard, played by surfer Laird Hamilton.

As a kid growing up in Maryland, John Luff dreaded the painful ice cream headaches that would throb through his skull during surf sessions in frigid waters.

“I wish I could push a button and turn the ocean into an 80-degree bathtub, and put up some walls up to block this wind,” he recalls thinking.

His wish for perfect, man-made surfing conditions may be about to come true.

Surf industry insiders, investors, developers and engineers will gather Friday in Laguna Beach for the Surf Park Summit to discuss plans for new artificial surf parks, powered by the next generation of wave-making technology. The aim is to create a wave that any pro surfer in the world would be stoked to ride.

A perfect, man-made surfing wave – coming after years of attempts – has the potential to revolutionize the sport and culture, hopefuls say.

Matt Reilly, a co-founder of Surf Park Summit, thinks an influx of surf parks could ripple through the stagnant surf industry, which has seen years of declining in sales, according to the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association. Someone in Kansas who owns one pair of board shorts might buy three pairs if he was a regular at a surf park. Maybe he'll own a quiver of boards to practice on.

Greg Cruse, executive director of Surfing America, says more lifelike parks could open surfing to landlocked states and perhaps lessen shore crowds.

There are already several “standing waves” around the world in resorts, shopping centers and surf parks. But the wave movements in those facilities don't mimic the ride of a real ocean wave; in many of them, the wave stays in one place.

Luff is a business developer for one of the major companies producing artificial waves, American Wave Machines, based south of Orange County in Solana Beach. The company – founded by Bruce and Marie McFarland – made its first prototype in 2004 inside a shipping container in New Jersey. That technology created an endless standing wave by pumping water in a re-circulating pool. The water pumps upward toward a surfer, much like a big rapid in a river, and the surfer rides it upstream.

Since then, American Wave Machines has built surf parks using its SurfStream technology in places as far removed as Sweden, Peru, Dubai, and the Turks and Caicos islands in the West Indies. Other companies have standing waves around the world; the nearest one is at Wave House in San Diego.

In 2007, American Wave Machines unveiled the PerfectSwell, an air-powered pneumatic system to create waves much like those that occur in nature. It uses a wave generator, with the wave starting at one end, travelling the length of the pool, and then breaking. PerfectSwell creates anything from a 1-foot crumble to an 8-foot barreling wave “without the sharks or jellyfish,” Luff said.

American Wave Machines has two projects in the works that will use that technology. A pool that spans 160 feet across is under construction in Sochi, Russia, the site of the 2014 Olympics. The project won't be completed in time for the Olympics, but advocates for getting surfing into the games hope it will create enough buzz to plant a seed in the minds of Olympic decision-makers.

Another major project, which Luff bills as the largest surf-generating wave pool in the world, will be completed by early 2015. Luff plans to announce the location and other details at the Surf Park Summit. He hinted that it will be in a major U.S. city.

American Wave Machines describes that project as an indoor venue larger than a football field that will have a 1-foot “ankle-high wave” for beginners as well as 7.5-foot “world-class” barreling wave.

That flexibility will be key if the new parks are going to succeed in the marketplace.

Related Links

A surfer rides a man-made wave created by American Wave Machines in Peru. PHOTO COURTESY AMERICAN WAVE MACHINES
An artist's rendition showing what a PerfectSwell wave could look like in a mall. PHOTO COURTESY AMERICAN WAVE MACHINES
An artist's rendition showing what a PerfectSwell wave could look like in the mountains. PHOTO COURTESY AMERICAN WAVE MACHINES
Are surf parks the wave of the future? This is how one group, called Webber Wave Pools out of Australia, envisions a Surf Park could look like at the Olympics. COURTESY SURF PARK SUMMIT
This is how one group, called Webber Wave Pools out of Australia, envisions a Surf Park. COURTESY SURF PARK SUMMIT
A rendition by American Wave Machines shows what an artificial wave made by "PerfectSwell" can look like. COURTESY SURF PARK SUMMIT
Pro surfer Tom Rezvan throws his fins in the air on this man-made wave at Wadi Adventures, set in the middle of the desert in Dubai. COURTESY SURF PARK SUMMIT
This is how one group, called Webber Wave Pools out of Australia, envisions a Surf Park. COURTESY SURF PARK SUMMIT
Webber Wave Pools out of Australia envisions a Surf Park like this. COURTESY SURF PARK SUMMIT
Surfing great Laird Hamilton is seen in this photo from 2005. Artificial waves got an early plug in the 1987 movie "North Shore." The opening scene shows Rick Kane winning a surf contest on a man-made wave in Arizona. He dreams of the North Shore, and soon packs his bags to move to Hawaii and compete in a real surf contest, where he went up against a cocky Lance Burkhard, played by Hamilton. MAUI FILM FESTIVAL, ANTHONY FRIEDKIN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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